How to Eat Like a Corfiot

During the Renaissance, Venice was the main merchant of spices in Europe, something that caused great influence on the corfiot cuisine and the culinary habits of the natives of Corfu.

Corfiot cuisine

Corfiot cuisine is mostly Mediterranean, with its main characteristics being olive oil, vegetables, pasta and spices. Everyday dishes are often accompanied by fresh greens that the housewives personally peak from their gardens or the mountains.

Some of the foods that are based on vegetables are vastly cooked and served in corfiot cuisine are briam, mousakas (mousakas is a Greek food in general not just a Corfiot one), tsigareli, pumpkin pie, village salads (that also can be called Greek Salads)

Like most of the places in the world, Corfu as well has its own traditional corfiot cuisine.

11th of December

The first and most characteristic traditional food is called “tiganites tou Agiou” and it is a pancake like candy, shaped in little balls that is eaten with honey and cinnamon mostly and it is cooked on the 11th of December when the Patron Saint Of Corfu (Agios Spiridon, Saint Spiridon) is celebrated.

On Christmas day, tradition has it that avgolemono (a yellow soup made from eggs and accompanied with rice) is cooked in every household on the island. When there are festivities at the households the traditional dish pastitsada (pasta with spicy red sauce and rooster or beef) is cooked.

Easter week

During Easter week, on the night of the Resurrection, chilichourda (the intestines of lamb with either red or white sauce) is that traditional food on every family’s table.

Fogatsa is a type of brioche made in Corfu. It originates from the region of Venice and it is usually round shaped. An alternative fogatsa shaped into strand is titled kolompina and is made with the same ingredients and process though a red colored boiled egg is added to the upper part of the dough so that it’s easy to distinguish after baking.

kolompina

The kolompina additionally features a single colored feather (added after baking). It is usually prepared during the Easter period.

On other occasions for religious festivities dishes such as bakaliaros skordalia (cod with mushed potatoes, olive oil and garlic), barbarela and koukloura

During the summer

During the summer the places where tourists could go and eat something from the traditional corfiot cuisine are places with strictly Corfiot cuisine, taverns, fast foods, fish taverns or Italian, Chinese and Mexican restaurants and pizzerias. Italian food is definitely the one Corfiots are most likely to have, since it is closer to the Corfiot tradition and they are more familiar with pasta. In the fish taverns you can have fresh fish straight from the sea, cooked in many ways, such as fried , on charcoal , bianco (with white sauce) or bourdeto (with red sauce).

In the fish taverns you can have fresh fish straight by the sea with ouzo or tsipouro

Traditional Corfiot dishes

It is the famous Pastitsada from Corfu

Τhe most famous traditional corfiot cuisine for both locals and visitors is the pastitsada which as I've already mentioned is pasta with red sauce, spices and rooster or beef.

Another famous food that is also served with pasta is the kolopimpiri pasta cooked with orzo, pepper and tomato sauce. One more traditional food is strapatsada, a dish of eggs with red sauce and feta cheese.

Tips for Pastitsada

The authentic Pastitsada is eaten with rooster and thick spaghetti,

it is the famous sofrito from Corfu

If you ever been at Corfu you can’t have missed this incredibly tasty traditional dish of juicy and tender, melt-in-the-mouth veal with a delicious intense garlic and vinegar based sauce. Simply amazing!,

The authentic Sofrito

The term sofrito does not refer to a specific dish but rather to a technique: First, potatoes are briefly deep-fried and then added to a pot where beef or chicken

Corfiot sweets

When it comes to traditional Corfiot sweets, kumquat is a big part of corfiot cuisine and is used to make a sweet that in Greek is called “spoon sweet” is the most traditional one of them all. Spoon sweets are like marmelaid but the difference is that the fruits used to make them aren’t mooshed but intead either cut to little pieces or used in their original size and they have a kind of syroup. They are called spoon sweets because they are served in a spoon full of the sweet. Christopsoma (they are like pancakes), fogatses (a bread-like sweet) with a red egg in the middle. Sikomaida (fig pie, with aniseed and ouzo) and mantoles, traditional almonds filled sweets.

It’s worth mentioning that the local products of Corfu are mainly used in the corfiot cuisine. Those products are ginger beer, local beer, nouboulo, sausages, butter, cremes, milk, yogurt, mantoles and mantolato. Ginger beer helps digestion , there are many special tastes of the local beer.

Nouboulo is the local deli meat (else called Corfiot prosciutto) made from pork marinated with red wine , smoked wrapped over aromatic plants .